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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23933275">Always Right There</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toaverse/pseuds/Toaverse'>Toaverse</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Onward (2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Brother Feels, Brotherly Love, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Graphic Description, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Near Death, Post-Canon, i guess you can call it that? :/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:21:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,347</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23933275</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toaverse/pseuds/Toaverse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>2 days after the battle of the Stone Dragon Is still pretty fresh, which leaves plenty of room for “what if”’s.</p><p>Ian definitely has those “what if...” questions as well, but not the good kind...</p><p>Luckily, the young wizard always has his big brother to find comfort.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barley Lightfoot &amp; Iandore “Ian” Lightfoot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>75</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Always Right There</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Requested by Banana! :D</p><p>After being quite unmotivated to further write the third chappy of ‘Certain Slaughter’, I decided to write this one (because what else can I do in quarantine :/ )</p><p>Also; yes, there is a bit of an warning because a dead body is gonna be described briefly at the beginning.</p><p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Feeling that tiredness took over him, and expecting to fall asleep as soon when he hit the mattress of his bed, Ian couldn’t sleep at all.</p><p>Even in the middle of the night, he can’t bring himself to fall asleep.</p><p>Maybe it isn’t a surprise, consider that the whole Stone Dragon fiasco happened just 2 days ago.</p><p>Those days after the battle had been quite heavy for the Lightfoot brothers, especially for Ian, having to re-build all the town’s buildings with magic again. It is quite a good practice for new magic skills, but the long hours and the amount of work is what makes it so heavy.</p><p>Luckily, there are some creatures willing to help the young wizard in some way, such as that one friend group he tried to talk to on his birthday. They are actually quite nice, helping him if he’s struggling with something, or praising him for how he and his mom defeated the Stone Dragon.</p><p>A smile forms on Ian’s face thinking about his new friend group.</p><p>‘If only you failed to save your family.’ A thought breaks in his mind, making the smile on Ian’s face disappear. ‘If only you didn’t cast Voltar Thundasir in time.’</p><p>The thoughts make Ian’s blood run cold. Unwillingly, his mind flashes images of the stone dragon looming over Barley and dad, and then the dragon spewing fire at them, in which they burn slowly and painfully to death, as Barley screams in agony...</p><p>Tears form into Ian’s eyes, as he unwillingly imagines images of Barley’s burned body. The 16 year old hid himself under his covers, wanting to block all those horrible thoughts out, but it isn’t working.</p><p>‘If only you let him die.’ The thoughts return, making Ian tremble. ‘He probably would be screaming in horrible pain, the flames slowly burning his flesh and life away...’</p><p>A lump forms in Ian’s throat, forcing him to let out a few sobs as thick tears roll down his cheeks.</p><p>‘It would’ve been all your fault...”</p><p>The young wizard quickly threw the covers away from above him, sitting up on his bed while shaking in dread and fear of his own thoughts. Ian curls himself into a ball, trying to hide from those terrible thoughts.</p><p>It really makes him wanna see Barley right now. All though Ian doesn’t want to admit it, he kinda needs his big brother at the moment.</p><p>Then it feels like his body moves on its own. He reaches for the door handle and quietly opens it, stepping out of his room before closing it again.</p><p>Because of the darkness of the night, the hallways in the house look pitch dark, but that isn’t much of a problem, since Ian knows his way around the pitch black house.</p><p>He quietly walks down the stairs, trying not to wake anyone up. Unfortunately for him, he does wake someone up, as he feels a small dragon hang around his legs when he reaches the end of the stairs.</p><p>Looking down to see what it can be, Ian can barely see that it is Blazey, who looks like she’s a bit concerned for her owner. Ian however, couldn’t see the dragon’s expression.</p><p>“Please Blazey, not now...” the 16 year old says quietly, having a clear sad yet scared tone in his voice of what went on in his mind.</p><p>Feeling, and somewhat seeing, that Blazey isn’t planning on leaving her owner alone, Ian ignores the small dragon, and goes on to go to Barley’s room like he has planned. And seeing that her owner is obviously upset about something, Blazey decides to follow him wherever he’s going.</p><p>After a few more steps, Ian stands in front of Barley’s bedroom door, and without thinking, he turns the handle, and quietly pushes the door open.</p><p>Despite it being dark, Ian can see that his brother’s room is an unorganized mess, like it had been for the past 5 or so years. He can see a few empty soda cans on the desk, as well as some clothes on the floor. Well, the young wizard hasn’t expected otherwise, since Guinevere, as well as Guinevere the Second, had been in the exact same state.</p><p>Ian briefly looks at the mess, before focusing his attention on the person he has been looking for.</p><p>Barley looks like he can’t sleep either, already sitting up when hearing his door being opened.</p><p>“Ian? Is something wrong?” The older brother asks, knowing that Ian wouldn’t go into his room for nothing. Barley switches the lights on to see his little brother clearer, and instantly sees his nervous and sad expression, answering the 19 year old’s question without words.</p><p>Yep, there’s clearly something wrong...</p><p>Already sitting at the edge of his bed, Barley patted the space next to him, signing Ian to sit down for few seconds. Ian complies by slowly walking to the bed and sat down, Blazey laying her head on his lap as he does.</p><p>Having the lights on, Barley took a closer look at his brother’s expression, and looking at his eyes, it is dang obvious that Ian had been crying. The older brother lay a hand on the youngest’s back, trying to comfort him.</p><p>Situations like this often happend when Ian was 8. He would sometimes have “what if...” thoughts or a nightmare, and then come to their mom or Barley’s room for comfort. It stopped when he was 14, and it had went so well after that.</p><p>But to be honest, Barley shouldn’t have been surprised that Ian would have thoughts, or a nightmare, considered that the battle of the Stone Dragon had been two days ago.</p><p>“What happened?” Barley asks concerned, all though knowing a little bit what his brother might answer.</p><p>“You...could’ve died...if I wasn’t on time...” Ian chokes out, feeling a lump in his throat again as he pets Blazey. “You and dad could’ve died...if I didn’t cast Voltar Thundasir in time...” Hot, thick tears roll down the younger brother’s cheeks as he told all of this. “Y-you could have been eaten...or burned...”</p><p>Not being able to take hearing his little brother cry anymore, Barley pulls him into a big, comforting hug. Ian sobs, and wimpers as he buries his face into Barley’s frame.</p><p>“Shhhh, It’s okey.” The older brother whispers. “I’m here...”</p><p>Barley’s words do calm Ian down a little, but the fact that he’s getting this emotional over some thoughts, at 16 years old, just embarrasses him. It makes him feel like a burden.</p><p>“I-I’m sorry...”</p><p>The words broke the older Lightfoot’s heart all over again. He doesn’t know if his little brother is apologizing for coming into his room in the middle of the night, or for something else, but there’s absolutely no need saying sorry.</p><p>Barley pulls back from the hug, looking his younger brother straight in the eyes as he says his next sentence.</p><p>“Hey, don’t apologize for crying.” He says in a comforting tone. “It’s okey.”</p><p>Ian gives a nod as a response. Still seeing that his little brother needs some more comfort, Barley pulls him into a hug one-arm hug, patting Blazey softly with the other.</p><p>Ian truly needed it.</p><p>After a minute of holding his little brother close, Barley hears a yawn come from Ian, implying that he’s getting sleepy.</p><p>“Sleepy?” He asks, to which Ian gives a tired nod in response. “You can stay here if you want to.” Again, Ian responds with a tired nod.</p><p>The older Lightfoot gently lays the younger one on his bed, as Blazey cuddles up next to him. The sight makes Barley smile. He wraps one arm around his brother, using the other one to pull the three of them under the covers. He then wraps his other arm around Ian as well, holding him in a protective hug while the small dragon cuddles up between them.</p><p>And right in that moment, Ian can only feel the feeling of safety and warmth before he falls asleep, knowing that his big brother will always be there for him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*describes how Barley can possibly die in the final battle in this fic*</p><p>DEFINITELY not gonna write a angst fic about that, hehe :]  </p><p>Oh, btw, please yeet me fluff ideas you guys have! Because I definitely need some fluff therapy after the next thing that’s coming...</p></blockquote></div></div>
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